Staying happy and enjoying life appear to be the key to staying healthy in old age with depressed people far more likely to suffer health problems, researchers found.

Enjoying life is the key to healthy aging, claim scientists, after finding that happy people are fitter and healthier.

Those who enjoy life walk at a faster pace and are more physically active on a daily basis when they get older compared to unhappy people, scientists found.

Happy pensioners had less trouble getting out of bed, getting dressed or showering.

In contrast unhappy people were twice as likely to have health problems like heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis.

But researchers said it wasn’t simply because ill health or mobility problems made people miserable.

“The study shows that older people who are happier and enjoy life more show slower declines in physical function as they age,” states Dr. Andrew Steptoe of University College London.

“They are less likely to develop impairments in activities of daily living such as dressing or getting in or out of bed, and their walking speed declines at a slower rate than those who enjoy life less.

“This is not because the happier people are in better health, or younger, or richer, or have more healthy lifestyles at the outset, since even when we take these factors into account, the relationship persists.”

Researchers from University College London assessed 3,199 men and women aged 60 years or over living in England and examined the link between positive well-being and physical well-being over the space of eight years.

They were divided into three age categories: 60-69, 70-79 and 80 years or over and were asked about their enjoyment of life with a four-point scale.

They rated questions “I enjoy the things that I do,” “I enjoy being in the company of others,” “On balance, I look back on my life with a sense of happiness” and “I feel full of energy these days.”

Researchers then used personal interviews to determine whether participants had impairments in daily activities such as getting out of bed, getting dressed, bathing or showering. They gauged walking speed with a gait test.

Participants in the 60-69-year bracket had higher levels of well-being as did those with higher socioeconomic status and education and those who were married and working.

People with low well-being were more than three times as likely as their positive counterparts to develop problems in their daily physical activities.

“Our previous work has shown that older people with greater enjoyment of life are more likely to survive over the next 8 years; what this study shows is that they also keep up better physical function.”

“Our results provide further evidence that enjoyment of life is relevant to the future disability and mobility of older people,” said Dr Steptoe

“Efforts to enhance well-being at older ages may have benefits to society and health care systems.”